Yosemite National Park Announces the Scenic Vista Management Plan Finding of No Significant Impact to be Released for Public Review

Yosemite National Park Superintendent Don Neubacher announces the Scenic Vista Management Plan Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is available for public review. This document records the decision of the National Park Service to restore and protect scenic resources as described in the Selected Action of the FONSI. The purpose of the plan is to develop a systematic program to document, protect, and reestablish Yosemite’s important viewpoints and vistas, consistent with the natural processes and human influences that created them. This plan considers which vistas the park will treat, how the park will prioritize treatments, and the extent and intensity of treatments.

The Preferred Alternative, Alternative 3 (Use Ecological Conditions to Determine Intensity of Vista Clearing) is determined not to have a significant effect on the human environment and is adopted by the National Park Service (NPS). Alterations at vista points within the Wild and Scenic River Corridors, of the Merced River and the Tuolumne River, will be addressed under each river plan. Within the first year of the plan, plans for work at approximately 24 sites will be posted and available for public review on the National Park Service’s Planning, Environment and Public Comment in the spring of 2012. Work at the vista locations are expected to begin in the fall of 2012.

The Scenic Vista Management Plan Environmental Assessment (EA) was available for public review from August 9, 2010 to September 17, 2010. Public comments and NPS responses are documented in the Scenic Vista Management Plan Public Comment and Response Report. The FONSI and the Public Comment and Response Report are available electronically through the National Park Service’s Planning, Environment, and Public Comment system (PEPC) at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/YOSESVMP.

More information about the Scenic Vista Management Plan and a link to PEPC can be accessed from the Yosemite National Park website at http://www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/vista.htm. Printed copies of the FONSI are available, and requests can be submitted by mail to: Superintendent, Yosemite National Park, Attn: Scenic Vista Management Plan, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite, CA 95389; or fax (209) 379-1294; or by email.

Yosemite National Park will host the next monthly Open House on Wednesday, August 31, 2011, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Valley Visitor Center Auditorium in behind the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center. Copies of the FONSI will be available. Park staff will be present to answer questions regarding the Scenic Vista Management Plan and other park planning efforts.